Tolan rolled over, looking up at the sky. He continued to hold onto the shaping, but the strength in it was already beginning to fade. He needed to hurry off before the Inquisitors realized he’d been responsible for the shaping.
He raced along the Shapers Path, and when he reached a point near the Academy, he jumped, pushing off the Path with a shaping of wind and fire and landing in the courtyard. He paused, listening to the sounds of the night. There were other shapings, dozens of them, all searching for the elementals. He had seen no sign of saa and had to hope the fire elemental had remained where it was, not risking itself the same way the other three had.
Other distant shapings came, and they felt different, reminding him of what he had felt when he was drawn into the city in the first place.
Could they be disciples of the Draasin Lord?
If they were, he needed to get back inside. He’d made enough mistakes with running out and exposing himself with shapings that he had no interest in doing it again.
When he got inside the Academy, he was thankful there was no one inside.
He raced up the stairs and for a moment, he thought he felt a shaping, but that sense faded.
When he reached the second-level quarters, he headed through the common area slowly, but it was empty. He hurried back to his room, still feeling the nagging sense a shaping was building behind him, but any time he looked, there was nothing.
When he flopped down onto his bed, he stared up at the ceiling. His mind was racing.
He had denied to the Inquisitors that he served the Draasin Lord, and yet what had he just done?
What if he was the traitor?
Everything had started when he’d come to the Academy. And there had been a shaping over his mind, though he didn’t know what it meant. It was possible he did serve the Draasin Lord, especially considering his view of the elementals.
Those thoughts stayed with him while he drifted, never falling fully asleep. There was always the sense of a shaping near him, and while it never built heavily enough to fear what it was doing, the fact he felt it throughout his sleep left him unsettled.
And mixed with it was the sense of elementals. They darted through his dreams, most calling to him, but occasionally, he felt a twinge of pain and a reminder of what he had detected when jinnar had been ripped out of this world and forced back into the bond. Each time he did, he awoke with a start, and it took a long time to fall back asleep.
21
The water-shaping class was better than wind shaping had been, and Tolan hadn’t felt quite as harassed as he had with Master Rorn. Master Wassa was still stern with him, more so than he had been before, including looking at him askance when he had asked a particular question. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact Tolan had never shown much in the way of water shaping ability before and his questioning raised alarms for Master Wassa. Tolan couldn’t help but think there was something more to it, possibly related to the fact Tolan had been involved with the upper-level students who had been injured during his first few months at the Academy, bringing them to Master Wassa for healing.
As he made his way through the Academy, he nearly collided with Master Aela. Spirit-shaping classes weren’t nearly as frequent as the others, mostly because the ability to shape spirit wasn’t something any of the earlier students ever demonstrated.
Seeing her now left him nervous. After what had happened with the elementals and his role in freeing them—and opposing the Inquisitors—he didn’t want to be around any spirit shaper.
“Shaper Ethar. I hadn’t realized you were released from your Inquisition.”
Tolan blinked, looking her over. Master Aela was a small woman, dark of hair and with a round face. She had a slight frame, almost as if she would have been a wind shaper if she weren’t a spirit shaper. She wore robes of white and had a silver belt buckle around them.
He wasn’t quite sure how to respond. None of the other master shapers had been quite as forthright with their questioning about his Inquisition. She was the first one to have asked him a direct question.
“I’ve been out of it for about a week now,” he said.
“A week? That means you were held for…” She frowned, and her mouth pressed in a tight line. “Much longer than anyone should have been held. Certainly, a student shaper should not have been held in an Inquisition quite so long as you. They must have felt as if they weren’t able to obtain quite what they had intended.”
Tolan considered whether he would say something about why he had been held in the Inquisition but decided against it. It would only draw more attention to the fact he had been accused of serving the Draasin Lord.
“I’m glad to see you back among the second-level students.”
“You are?”
“We need all the shapers in the Academy we can. Otherwise we run the risk of not having the necessary support to deal with the threat of the Draasin Lord. The continued attacks outside the city have certainly got those of us within the Academy nervous.”
“What sort of attacks?”
“Nothing that students need to be concerned about. I shouldn’t have said anything. I will see you in class soon.” A shaping built from her but didn’t seem directed anywhere.
“Do we have another spirit class coming up?”
“Seeing as how you’re a second-level student now, you have them weekly.”
“I’ve missed that many?” But then, it wasn’t like he’d missed having any exposure to spirit. He’d been around spirit shapers exclusively over the last few weeks.
“We can get you caught up. If you would like, I have some time now.”
Tolan wanted to say no. With what had happened, and how he had been responsible for the elementals, he should say no. Still, he’d committed himself to the Academy, to mastering shaping. In order to do that, he needed to be capable of everything that he could. Even if it involved spending time with the spirit shaper. Besides, it would draw attention away from him.
“If you don’t have the time, we can find another time.”
“It’s not that, it’s just that after the Inquisition, I’m a little leery of spirit shaping.” At least he could be honest with that.
“Ah. This will be nothing like an Inquisition. While the shaping sometimes takes a similar form, the technique in learning is much different.” She turned and guided him along the hallway.
Tolan followed, heading toward the stairs and up to the platform that would lead into the spirit tower. As he did the last time he was here, he looked around, surveying the space, noting the markings. There were runes here, and he didn’t know he had seen them quite as clearly before, but there was no mistaking them now.
With a shaping of wind and fire, she launched herself toward the tower. Tolan paused and decided to use a wind shaping, wondering whether he would be able to hover with it. He summoned the wind, pushing it through him, holding himself in place, and then pushed. He hadn’t attempted this shaping since the last time he was in the wind classroom, though doing it without the withering was surprisingly easier. He didn’t have to worry about having such an explosion of power.
When he landed in the spirit hall, he looked around. It felt as if it had been ages since he had been here last, though not much had changed. Not that much ever changed in the various classrooms, but this one was different. Unlike many of the other classrooms, Master Aela didn’t have a desk at one end of the room. A small table rested in the center, a place where she would stand and speak to students who sat around her. There weren’t workspaces like within the other classrooms, though there wasn’t the same need, either.
As Tolan circled the room, he noticed a rune worked into the floor.
He paused, moving more slowly as he walked around, and wondered why he had never seen it before. It wasn’t as if this rune was difficult to see. It was there, on display, but the table obscured it, and likely the presence of other students had done the same.
“You’re admiring the pattern,” she said
.
“The rune, yes. It’s similar to the one down in the main part of the tower.”
She cocked her head at him and a shaping built from her. Instinctively, Tolan wrapped himself in fire, inverting it as he had with Master Irina, pressing the heat within himself. Her shaping struck his barrier and slipped around it.
He watched for any sign of recognition of what he had done, but there didn’t appear to be any. Either she didn’t detect it or she gave no sign of detecting it.
“Very few students pay much attention to runes.”
“I understand they have a connection to the element bonds and are powerful,” Tolan said.
“They are, or at least, they can be when used by the right person. But then, if you are aware of runes, then you already know this.”
“I doubt I’d be able to identify too many of the particular runes.”
“Many have studied runes over the years, looking for meaning within the shapes. Very few have ever come to understanding anything about them, though there are some who invest considerable time in such things.”
“I’ve been told students aren’t allowed to study them.”
“No. Study of that type of power is generally restricted to those who have knowledge of the element bonds, in order to ensure nothing more dangerous ensues. You can understand that if it weren’t restricted, a power like that could cause considerable difficulty.”
“How?”
“Using a power like that could lead to a disruption in the element bond. With the right sort of disruption, it could unleash the elementals.”
“I didn’t realize these runes were tied to the elementals.”
She frowned. “I shouldn’t be speaking of such things with you, Shaper Ethar. We are here to discuss your connection to spirit and to see if there is anything you could gain from having some additional instruction.”
“When do shapers generally find a connection to spirit?”
“If there is a connection to spirit, the shaper usually develops it after they have begun to master each of the element bonds.”
“Usually?”
“As with everything with shaping, there are exceptions. Some are born to spirit, the same way some are born to each of the other elements. There are some who manage to use that connection to make them quite a bit stronger.”
“I didn’t realize some were born to an element.”
“Have you never had a connection to a specific element?”
“I was able to sense earth first, I suppose.”
“Yes. Sensing would often precede shaping.”
“I was a fire shaper first.”
“Now, that is odd.”
“Sort of like me,” he said.
She chuckled. “Each of us has our own unique features. The Great Mother would ask we embrace that uniqueness.”
“I find it difficult to embrace the things that have made me different over the years.”
“And that is why you should embrace it, Shaper Ethar. Perhaps in time you will gain a greater understanding of your connection to the elements and understand your uniqueness is the way the Great Mother wanted you to be.”
Tolan took a seat, crossing his legs and looking at the stand in the middle of the room. Master Aela stood in front of it, resting her hands on either side of it, a shaping building.
As it built, Tolan realized there was a swirling energy rotating around him.
He replaced his barrier, holding it in front of him, using the connection to fire as he inverted it, protecting himself. As he did, he had a sense that the shaping struck the barrier, forcing it down. Master Aela watched him, saying nothing as she did.
“Master Aela?”
“We are going to work on your connection to spirit, Shaper Ethar,” she said.
“What are you doing?”
“I am helping you to connect to spirit.”
Her shaping continued to build, and as it did, Tolan recognized it.
A barrier.
It was the same sort of barrier he’d faced in the Inquisition. Just as he had at that time, he pushed against it, though this was different. Stronger.
He got to his feet and tried to take a step away, but he was held in place. He struck an invisible wall and was pushed backward.
“Master Aela?” he said again.
“Just relax, Shaper Ethar. I will have all I need soon enough.”
“Have all of what?”
“What you are hiding in your mind.”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
Master Aela smiled, and it was almost disarming. Tolan’s heart began to pound, and it seemed to do so in response to the power of the shaping she was building. If he didn’t do anything, whatever she was layering upon him would overwhelm him.
With a surge of understanding, he realized the shaping she used upon him was strengthened by the rune.
Great Mother!
Had the Grand Inquisitor had access to a rune when she was shaping spirit with him?
He didn’t think so. Even if she had, it might not have been nearly as effective. He was in the spirit tower, a place constructed for shapings like this, and standing before a master shaper of spirit.
He added earth and wind and water quickly to his barrier, using it to wrap around himself, but even that would not hold. Tolan could feel the effect, could feel the way it was resisting him, and as much as he wanted to continue to fight, he was already growing weak.
But he had his bondars.
It was different than the last time, when he had faced Master Irina. He had been helpless then, and he hadn’t had the bondars or anything with him that would have allowed him to shape more strongly. With those, he had to believe he could overpower her shaping, but how was he going to do that?
Tolan reached for the furios, pulling it from his pocket and squeezing it. He drew fire through it, adding it to his barrier. For a moment, it solidified, strengthened, and he reached for the earth bondar, holding on to it as he focused on his shaping, forcing it outward.
Power surged, and the two of them were strengthened, but even with those two bondars, he could already feel himself fading, the additional power he thought he could command not nearly enough when faced with a shaper of skill who was augmented by the rune placed in the center of the room.
“I have often wondered what you have hidden within your mind, Shaper Ethar. I have attempted to extract it but doing so has been difficult. You have been surrounded by those who have attempted to protect you. It was easy enough to learn you were the traitor but understanding the protection has been more difficult.”
“Who has protected me?”
“Who indeed?”
Her shaping pressed inward and she took a step toward him, unhindered by the power of her shaping.
Tolan pushed outward, trying to force himself away from her, and his hands struck the barrier. He dropped the earth bondar and tried to reach for it, but she got to it first, lifting it and glancing over at it.
“An interesting trinket. I’m surprised you managed to acquire a golan and furios, though perhaps you are far more resourceful than I had anticipated.”
“What are you doing?”
“You are the key.”
“The key for what?”
“For finding the Draasin Lord.”
“I don’t serve him. I told Master Irina the same thing, and regardless of what you might claim, I don’t serve him.”
“You may not remember that you serve him, yet you do. That is what I need to extract.” She took another step. Her shaping pressed up against his hand and he dropped the furios.
Power washed away from him. She picked it up, sliding it into her pocket.
She had him feeling more helpless than he had even when facing Master Irina. Her power was greater. It was the rune, but now she had the bondars, he would have no way of escaping.
The shaping continued to press inward, collapsing his barrier with each step she took. She smiled at him, and he fought, but he wasn’t able to
overpower her.
He stood there. As she stepped closer, his hands were forced up toward his chest, folded inward at the elbow, until he was pressing his palms against his chest.
She stood directly across from him. Her shaping was incredible. There was something about it that he recognized, the heat and pain he thought he had seen in his vision.
“It will be far less painful if you don’t resist,” she said.
“Why?” he asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you doing this to me? I’ve told you I don’t serve the Draasin Lord.”
“Did you know the Draasin Lord was a student here?”
The change in conversation was jarring, and Tolan nodded. “I’ve heard that.”
“And he was a powerful shaper. Many who speak of him often neglect to report that, almost as if they fear that sharing his prowess would bring him back, but there is no shame in acknowledging the fact he was capable. Competent. And there is much we can learn from the Draasin Lord, but at the same time, we must protect the Academy. That is the role of the Inquisitors.”
His breath caught. She was an Inquisitor. He should have expected it, considering the fact she had the ability to shape spirit so strongly. How could she be anything other than an Inquisitor?
And yet, he would have expected an Inquisitor to serve more openly, not hiding the fact of their service the way she did.
“The Grand Inquisitor already questioned me. There was nothing she tried to uncover,” he said.
“The Grand Inquisitor is a fool,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “She believes the role of the Inquisitors is different, and if it were up to her, she would take us backward along a different pathway, one we have evolved beyond. Now we have established ourselves, the Inquisitors must be strengthened.”
Was that what this was about? Had he somehow gotten into the middle of a battle between the Inquisitors?
The Water Ruptures Page 26
